Corporate Punk

I found this post titled The New Face of Corporate America by Chris Hooley, and he has become my new blog hero. Go there first and read it before you bother with my comments. Having wended my career through a series of little startups and small web shops, I have been mostly insulated from Blue Chip Corporate culture. I can claim to be a Corporate Punk only insomuch as my current employer is a Corporation (albeit a smallish one), and I don't change my attitudes or demeanor at work any more than I do when I'm hanging out with my friends. I don't have an "office demeanor". I maintain complete transparency about my strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures. I think the essence of Corporate Punk is not being "punk" in the Johnny Rotten sense - it has nothing to do with whether you're more into the Ramones or Beyonce, and fashion only comes into the argument as a byproduct of the real issue: the Corporate Punk confidently knows their worth, enters the workforce on his/her terms, resists conformity, and questions authority. I guess a point worth making is: the new economy is not stuffy, and the new workforce doesn't put up with shit. I've been conducting a lot of job interviews lately. I'm there to assess someone's technical skills of course, but I also have to assess if a candidate's personality is a good fit for the company, because frankly I'll have to work with them, and I want to work with interesting people. All other factors being equal (which they never are), I'd go for the candidate who has a quirk of vitality. I do care about someone being able to hack up a wicked chunk of XSLT, but I also want to see that someone has a creative, absolutely brilliant mind; if someone strikes me as having a bit of Corporate Punk in them, there's a good chance that we'll get along, and that they're the sort of employee that will be comfortable surfing on the bleeding edge of techno. Those that usually swim against the current? are usually damn good swimmers. Here are some things I'd recognize in an interviewee that might indicate a little bit of Punk (and no this is not a joke list)

1. not dressed like they're going to a funeral
2. someone who will nonchalantly use the word "fuck" during the interview
3. portfolio that includes pro-bono work
4. articulate, concise, smart, astute
5. a confident attitude, unapologetic
6. asks probing questions about the company

One sure sign that you're interviewing a Corporate Punk is that they'll spend as much or more time figuring out if the company is right for them as you will assessing if they are right for the company.  The allure of Corporate Punk isn't that you want a shit-kicking shinhead rebel asking like an ass at your board meetings. And you also don't go for Punk where it's just a spoiled brat of immature rebellion "bringing down the establishment" to resolve their biographical fucked-upness. No, the Corporate Punk is Punk because he/she pushes corporations to question everything and accept nothing at face value.